Amnesty

A Novel

By: Aravind Adiga

Narrated by: Vikas Adam

An “urgent and significant book [that] speaks to our times” (The New York Times Book Review) from the bestselling, Man Booker Prize–winning author of The White Tiger and Selection Day about a young illegal immigrant who must decide whether to report crucial information about a murder—and thereby risk deportation.

Danny—formerly Dhananjaya Rajaratnam—is an illegal immigrant in Sydney, Australia, denied refugee status after he fled from Sri Lanka. Working as a cleaner, living out of a grocery storeroom, for three years he’s been trying to create a new identity for himself. And now, with his beloved vegan girlfriend, Sonja, with his hidden accent and highlights in his hair, he is as close as he has ever come to living a normal life.

But then one morning, Danny learns a female client of his has been murdered. The deed was done with a knife, at a creek he’d been to with her before; and a jacket was left at the scene, which he believes belongs to another of his clients—a doctor with whom Danny knows the woman was having an affair. Suddenly Danny is confronted with a choice: Come forward with his knowledge about the crime and risk being deported? Or say nothing, and let justice go undone? Over the course of this day, evaluating the weight of his past, his dreams for the future, and the unpredictable, often absurd reality of living invisibly and undocumented, he must wrestle with his conscience and decide if a person without rights still has responsibilities.

“Searing and inventive,” Amnesty is a timeless and universal story that succeeds at “illuminating the courage of displaced peoples and the cruelties of those who conspire against them” (Star Tribune, Minneapolis).

Critic reviews

"Narrator Vikas Adam brings his smooth tenor to another engaging audiobook by Aravind Adiga. Adam creates a quirky persona to portray young Danny's immigrant life in Australia, capturing the vocal rhythms of the young Sri Lankan formerly known as Dhananjaya Rajaratnam. His dilemma is presented vividly. Should he continue evading the authorities, or come forward with evidence to solve a murder? Adam's voice is easy on the ear, so listeners can sink into this hilarious and heartrending story about the search for home. Adam depicts the dramatic tension between Danny's two choices as well as the vivacity of a young person who is working to fit into a new culture. Fans of Adiga's novels will savor this performance."

"Aravind Adiga’s fifth novel tells the story of Danny, who was born in Sri Lanka and has spent the past four years in Australia as an undocumented immigrant. Danny works as a house cleaner and sleeps in the storeroom of a bullying shopkeeper. His life is dominated by vigilance over anything in his appearance, behavior or speech that might expose him; accordingly, markers of civil status and background are crucial to the story. Narrator Vikas Adam is pure genius in his delivery of accents and manners of speech of different ethnic and national categories, fully immersing the listener in Danny’s precarious existence. Matters become more fraught as Danny learns that a woman who lives in one of the apartments he cleans has been murdered. She had been generous to him but had involved him in her extramarital affair with an unsavory man named Prakash. Danny has good reason to believe Prakash is the murderer — but turning him in will lead to his own exposure. Brilliantly narrated, this is a powerful depiction of the character, predicament and decisions of a powerless man." (Katherine A. Powers)

Excellent narration and immersive story

The narrator was so good, switching seamlessly not only between the main character but many diverse others I had to check to see if he was the sole narrator. Well done where many have failed in the audible roster. I was immersed in the almost stream-of-consciousness tale of the experience of a student over staying his visa in Australia.

Important, but frustrating

I loved White Tiger, and hoped for something as good. It's not. But it's a very important book, especially for these troubled times of worldwide mass migration, ICE, and racism. Adiga has done a great job of making us white people understand the effects of blind and invidious white privilege on the underclass of undocumented immigrants. The setting is Australia, but it might as well be the USA. The message is strong and essential, but the amount of repetition of certain key phrases and concepts in the book, plus the structure of the book mapping to one single day, with the bulk of the story being told in flashbacks, is extremely frustrating for this listener. By the last hour and half, I was screaming with frustration as he reiterated certain plot points for the third or fourth time. On the other hand, out of respect for the White Tiger, which remains a very powerful book for me, even years after I read it, I listened all the way through. The narrator was EXCELLENT.

Stressful because it felt so real

This is a well told story and helps you understand a few of our modern day ills:

Asylum seeking refugees
Gambling addiction
Violence against women

That said, it is a hard thing to listen to because of all that. You feel Danny’s stress and anxiety throughout the book.

There probably is no nice way to tell these stories and they must be told. Just be sure you’re in the right frame of mind to process it.

Awful accent!

The narrator's accent is awful whenever he's reading the protagonist--which is most of the time. It's a weird mix of British, bad Australian, and occasional American. I'm going to keep listening because I have to read this book for work but, ugh: the accent is really distracting. (I did look up the voice actor and it doesn't seem that this is his actual voice.)

Amnesty audio book review by Mark

Not so impressive when compared to White Tiger. But immigration is a real hard topic to write on especially from an illegals point of view. the writer tends to be sarcastic many a times. the plot keeps dragging on and on and could have been shortened quite a bit. overall it's ok but one needs patience to go over the entire set if 64 chapters.